Kia Motors was awarded top honours in two categories at this year’s Red Dot product design competition in Germany.

The Red Dot product design award is one of the world’s major design contests and has been held by the Design Centre of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany since 1955. This year, about 1,700 manufacturers from 60 countries, working across a variety of product sectors, vied for the awards with a total of 4,433 product entries.

This year, the judges bestowed the awards on the Kia Sportage compact CUV and Kia Optima sedan. The new mid-size Kia Optima sedan was also awarded the 2011 red dot “best of the best” title.

These latest wins bring the number of Kia models to receive a Red Dot award to four — with the Kia Venga winning in 2010 and the Kia Soul in 2009. The Kia Optima and the new Sportage also won 2011 iF product design awards in December.

Peter Schreyer, Chief Design Officer, Kia Motors Corporation said, “Naturally, we are particularly thrilled about the "best of the best" award for our new sedan. The Kia Optima exudes a bold, athletic energy and its blend of simple and fluid lines and elegant but uncomplicated shapes draw the attention of the eye in much the same fashion as a perfectly tailored, fine Italian suit.”

Senior Executive Vice President & COO of Kia Motors Corporation, Thomas Oh, underlines the significance of design in terms of Kia’s market position. “These red dot design awards are a fantastic success for our brand. They represent yet another independent endorsement of the ground-breaking design and excellent value for money Kia vehicles offer. The special award for the Kia Optima, in particular, will surely add momentum to the ongoing launch our new sedan in the highly competitive D-segment across the globe.”